Commencing with the Deity, it embraces the whole moral world, and runs through all the relations of human life. It comprehends society in all its complicated forms, and extends to man in all his domestic and political relations. Wherever relation exists, morality exists also. As the relations of life branch into innumerable ramifications, so morals arise in correspondent degrees: as, in the scale of creation, a chain of beings subsists, from an atom to a seraph, so an infinity of obligations harmonize with each other, and arise out of one grand position-the relation of man to his Maker.

On this basis, the law of Nature and that of morals are coincident, and unite intellect and feeling in every possible combination. Nature demands filial obedience, and so does this law of relation. The obligation arises simply out of the importance of the relation to the individual, and the result proves beneficial to society, as the principle is recognised by the conscience and cherished by the heart. The indissoluble relation of the individual to the common Parent of all, and the general relation of the entire creation to the same Being, secures the moral obligation from decay or dissolution, and prescribes its due action through all the magnificent and infinitely diversified range of being. It promotes the advantage of the whole, by a due adjustment of the parts, and a correspondent attention to their proportionate claims. The rule thus provides for universal philanthropy, not only without violating nearer and more immediate duties, but precisely in the discharge of these relative interests, and in proportion as they are respected and honoured, obeyed and accomplished'.'

Having thus briefly explained the basis upon which

'For many of the preceding, and some of the following, observations, the writer is indebted to a course of lectures on Ethics, originally delivered at the SURREY INSTITUTION, by the Rev. Dr. Collyer, in 1817.

the structure of our moral constitution reposes, it is equally interesting and necessary to inquire into the law by which it is regulated. This we have already stated to be conscience; that internal consciousness so difficult to define, but so universally felt and acknowledged. Whatever name this moral sense may bear (and it has been called by several), its dictates are imperative, and its dominion as extensive as human nature. 'It lives under the various forms of external observances and political enactments, but it lives still, often hated, but never despised; feared, but not to be extinguished: it may be weakened, but it cannot be destroyed; it may be lulled, but it cannot be annihilated; and when it rouses from its sleep, the hero turns pale before its accusations: it rushes on with the irresistible fury of the lion, coming up from the swellings of Jordan, roused from the thicket where he had couched by the sudden overflowing of the river. Even to its silent whispers, which none but the man himself can hear, the thunder of heaven is but as the murmur of the distant water fall, when its remote echoes are borne at fitful intervals by the light breeze of the summer's evening.'

Had we been left to our own observation to ascertain the law of our moral constitution, by determining the relation of being to being, our perceptions of moral duty would have been extremely imperfect; for however firmly that duty may be established in the relation, it could not, from the limited nature of our faculties, have been fully known to us. But conscience has been given as a law within the breast, answering to that suggested from without, as the impression to the seal, or the reflection from the mirror to the object before it. It is of little importance, in reference either to our convictions or the obligations they impose, whether, with some moralists, we regard consciousness as applied to moral questions as a distinct faculty, or, with others, consider it as a law incident to all our mental powers, im

planted there by the Wisdom that formed us. In whatever sense we understand it, conscience was obviously given as the actual judge of human actions, and is designed to preserve us from the allurements of vice and folly, and to stimulate us in the pursuit of wisdom and virtue. It scrutinizes our thoughts, examines our affections, investigates our designs, and discriminates our actions. It reminds us of our duties, sets before us our dangers, and elucidates our prospects. It renders our hopes animating, and our fears terrible. It demands allegiance from all the faculties, and requires them to render all their movements subservient' to its pleasure. It pronounces sentence of unqualified reprobation against our follies, corruptions, and vices, and severely corrects us with the rod of self-condemnation and apprehended misery: it rewards our rectitude with the smiles of approbation, the promise of felicity, and the tranquil delights of internal peace. Conscience, in its primeval uncorrupted state, was the perfect test of moral character, and the supreme law that determined the reward of innocence, and the punishment of guilt.'

The testimony of conscience shows, that, with all his boasted dignity, man is but a dependent creature. He is neither the author of his own being, nor has he the supreme disposal of his own faculties. He can neither preserve the spark of life from extinction, nor protract its existence; nor can he follow the dictates of his own corrupt inclinations, without awakening the sensibilities of the moral faculty, and standing condemned as a criminal at that bar at which he is himself the judge. Like all the other powers entrusted to man, conscience is susceptible of culture, and may be silenced or impaired by neglect and inattention, by opposition and repulsion. But, notwithstanding the variations to which it is subject, its

kind.

Finch's Essays on the Intellectual and Moral Qualities of Man

dictates, in every age, are essentially the same in nature, though not in degree, and the happiness of man is everywhere inseparable from obedience to the natural law of his moral constitution.

We have stated Responsibility as the sanction of this law, a position which requires only the being of a God to be admitted for its establishment. From this it is inseparable. Consciousness at once informs us, that He made us, and not we ourselves; and that, as our Creator, He has a right to command, and we, as his creatures, are bound to obey. The relation which subsists between man and his Maker, therefore, implies obligation, and that obligation responsibility. This has ever been the common sense of mankind; for those who wished to silence conscience, have always begun by denying responsibility. Because judgment against an evil work was not speedily executed, they blotted the article of future retribution from their creed, and assumed that the thunders of heaven would never be roused; and that man, therefore, was only responsible to himself and society: then the goddess of Reason assumed the throne of the Supreme, and anarchy marked the potency of her sway. This responsibility is not merely proportional to actual, but to possible knowledge; not simply to what we have attained, but to what we might have accomplished. Human laws embrace but a part; conscience widens the circle, and partially includes our duty to ourselves as well as to others; but it is the Omniscience of the Deity alone, that grasps the whole, and is the perfect judge of man's responsibility.

Though conscience is thus universal in its existence, and impartial in its decisions, it is by no means equal in its operations. It is, indeed, that light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world;' but daily experience shows, that, in some persons, it is watchful, susceptible, and tenderly alive to the slightest touch, while in others it is so

callous as scarcely to be affected by the strongest percussion. Reason was bestowed upon man to enable him to discriminate between good and evil; and this internal monitor, by perpetually reminding him of his responsibility to his Heavenly Benefactor, continually prompts him to choose the better part, while it assures him that his duty and his, happiness are alike inseparable from obedience to its dictates, and urges him to aim at the perfection of moral excellence as the source of the noblest satisfaction of which his nature is susceptible.

In reference to the results of morals on society at large, it may be remarked, that every man is the centre of a circle, the radii of which diverge in all directions, but its circumference has no definite limits. The relations of life, however, are either more near, or more remote; and in this respect the moral world presents the same diversity as the natural. All things are not formed upon the same scale of magnitude, clothed in the same forms of beauty, or impressed with the same characteristics of intrinsic excellence; yet the field-flower which is trodden under foot is a part of the magnificent whole, as well as the planet that rolls its ample orb through the vast regions of space, and sheds its reflected light upon our path. In this diversity of individuals, connected by mutual relation to each other, consists the enchantment of Nature's variety. Nothing is superfluous-nothing defective-and the well-balanced harmony of the whole displays the power and godhead of the Architect, while its still small voice' of deep and affecting instruction steals in audible whispers through the human heart.

Equally diversified and associated are the relations of the moral world. As every thing in creation is necessary the atom as well as the orb,-as every thing has its place and its appointment in the formation of the whole,-so all the parts of society are essential to its relative harmony-to its permanent integrity—